Read the Bible in a Year

Each day, we'll post passages so that you can read the Bible in one year. This is part of The Colossians 13:16 Project, sponsored by Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia. You're invited to worship with us Sundays, at 11:00 a.m. or Saturdays, at 6:30 p.m. You may also want to consider joining one our adult Bible Studies: Thursdays at 12:00 noon and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. We also have a full range of programs for children. If you want more information about the church, check out the other blogs. And please feel free to leave any comments.

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Monday, July 10, 2017

Bible Readings for July 10, 2017

Today our passages are 1 Chronicles 7:1–8:40; Acts 27:1-20; Psalm 7:1-17; and Proverbs 18:22. The readings are from the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

1 Chronicles 9-10:14 (Contemporary English Version)

1 Chronicles 9

The People Who Returned from Babylonia and Settled in Jerusalem

1Everyone in Israel was listed in the
official family records that were included in the history of Israel's kings.
The people of Judah were taken to Babylonia as prisoners because they
sinned against the LORD. 2And the first
people to return to their towns included priests, Levites, temple workers, and
other Israelites. 3People from the
tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh settled in Jerusalem.
4-6There were six hundred ninety
people from the Judah tribe who settled in Jerusalem. They were all descendants
of Judah's three sons: Perez, Shelah, and Zerah. Their leaders were Uthai,
Asaiah, and Jeuel. Uthai was the son of Ammihud and a descendant of Omri, Imri,
Bani, and Perez. Asaiah was a descendant of Shelah; Jeuel was a descendant of
Zerah.
7-9There were also nine hundred
fifty-six family leaders from the Benjamin tribe who settled in Jerusalem. They
included: Sallu son of Meshullam, grandson of Hodaviah, and great-grandson of
Hassenuah; Ibneiah son of Jeroham; Elah son of Uzzi and grandson of Michri;
Meshullam son of Shephatiah, grandson of Reuel, and great-grandson of Ibnijah.

The Priests Who Settled in Jerusalem

10-12Here is a list of priests who settled in Jerusalem:
Jedaiah; Jehoiarib; Jachin; Azariah, who was a temple official, and whose
ancestors included Hilkiah, Meshullam, Zadok, Meraioth, and Ahitub; Adaiah son
of Jeroham, whose ancestors included Pashhur and Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel,
whose ancestors included Jahzerah, Meshullam, Meshillemith, and Immer.
13There was a total of 1,760
priests, all of them family leaders in their clan and trained in the work at the
temple.

The Levites Who Settled in Jerusalem

14-16Here is a list of Levites who settled in Jerusalem:
Shemaiah from the Merari clan, whose ancestors included Hasshub, Azrikam, and
Hashabiah; Bakbakkar; Heresh; Galal; Mattaniah son of Mica, whose ancestors
included Zichri and Asaph; Obadiah son of Shemaiah, whose ancestors included
Galal and Jeduthun; Berechiah son of Asa and grandson of Elkanah, who had lived
in the villages near the town of Netophah.

The Temple Guards Who Settled in Jerusalem

17Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives were
the guards at the temple gates. Shallum was the leader of this clan, 18and for a long time they had been the
guards at the King's Gate on the east side of the city. Before that, their
ancestors guarded the entrance to the Levite camp.
19Shallum son of Kore, [a] as
well as the other men in the Korahite clan, guarded the entrance to the temple,
just as their ancestors had guarded the entrance to the sacred tent. 20Phinehas son of Eleazar had supervised
their work because the LORD was with him. 21Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was also one of the guards
at the temple.
22There was a total of two
hundred twelve guards, all of them listed in the family records in their towns.
Their ancestors had been chosen by King David and by Samuel the prophet to be
responsible for this work, 23and now
they guarded the temple gates.
24There was one full-time guard
appointed to each of the four sides of the temple. 25Their assistants lived in the villages outside the city,
and every seven days a group of them would come into the city and take their
turn at guard duty. 26The four
full-time guards were Levites, and they supervised the other guards and were
responsible for the rooms in the temple and the supplies kept there. 27They guarded the temple day and night and
opened its doors every morning.

The Duties of the Levites

28Some of the Levites were responsible for the equipment
used in worship at the temple, and they had to count everything before and after
it was used. 29Others were responsible
for the temple furnishings and its sacred objects, as well as the flour, wine,
olive oil, incense, and spices. 30But
only the priests could mix the spices. 31Mattithiah, Shallum's oldest son, was a member of the
Levite clan of Korah, and he was in charge of baking the bread used for
offerings. [b]32The Levites from the Kohath clan were
in charge of baking the sacred loaves of bread for each Sabbath. [c]33The Levite family leaders who were
the musicians also lived at the temple. They had no other responsibilities,
because they were on duty day and night.
34All of these men were family
leaders in the Levi tribe and were listed that way in their family records. They
lived in Jerusalem.

King Saul's Family

(1 Chronicles 8.29-38)

35Jeiel
had settled the town of Gibeon, where he and his wife Maacah lived. 36They had ten sons, who were born in the
following order: Abdon, Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, 37Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth 38the father of Shimeam. Some of them went to live in
Jerusalem near their relatives.
39Ner was the father of Kish and
the grandfather of King Saul.
Saul had four sons: Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. [d]40-41Jonathan was the father of
Meribbaal, [e] the
grandfather of Micah, and the great-grandfather of Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and
Ahaz. [f]42-44The descendants of Ahaz included
Jarah, Alemeth, Azmaveth, Zimri, Moza, Binea, Rephaiah, Eleasah, and Azel and
his six sons: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan.

1 Chronicles 10

King Saul and His Sons Die

(1 Samuel 31.1-13)

1The
Philistines fought against Israel in a battle at Mount Gilboa. Israel's soldiers
ran from the Philistines, and many of them were killed. 2The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons and killed
three of them: Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. 3The fighting was fierce around Saul, and he was badly
wounded by enemy arrows.
4Saul told the soldier who
carried his weapons, "Kill me with your sword! I don't want those godless
Philistines to torture and make fun of me."
But the soldier was afraid to kill him. Then Saul stuck himself in the
stomach with his own sword and fell on the blade. 5When the soldier realized that Saul was dead, he killed
himself in the same way.
6Saul, three of his sons, and
all his male relatives were dead. 7The
Israelites who lived in Jezreel Valley [g]
learned that their army had run away and that Saul and his sons were dead. They
ran away too, and the Philistines moved into the towns the Israelites left
behind. 8The next day the Philistines
came back to the battlefield to carry away the weapons of the dead Israelite
soldiers. When they found the bodies of Saul and his sons on Mount Gilboa, 9they took Saul's weapons, pulled off his
armor, and cut off his head. Then they sent messengers everywhere in Philistia
to spread the news among their people and to thank the idols of their gods. 10They put Saul's armor in the temple of
their gods and hung his head in the temple of their god Dagon.
11When the people who lived in
Jabesh in Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12some brave men went to get his body and
the bodies of his three sons. The men brought the bodies back to Jabesh, where
they buried them under an oak tree. Then for seven days, they went without
eating to show their sorrow.
13Saul died because he was
unfaithful and disobeyed the LORD. He even asked advice from a woman who talked
to spirits of the dead, 14instead of
asking the LORD. So the LORD had Saul killed and gave his kingdom to David, the
son of Jesse.

Footnotes:

1
Chronicles 9:19Shallum son of Kore: Hebrew "Shallum son of Kore,
grandson of Ebiasaph, and great-grandson of Korah."

Acts 27:21-44 (Contemporary English Version)

21Since none of us had eaten
anything for a long time, Paul stood up and told the men:
You should have listened to me! If you had stayed on in Crete, you would
not have had this damage and loss. 22But now I beg you to cheer up, because you will be safe.
Only the ship will be lost.
23I belong to God, and I
worship him. Last night he sent an angel 24to tell me, "Paul, don't be afraid! You will stand trial
before the Emperor. And because of you, God will save the lives of everyone on
the ship." 25Cheer up! I am sure that
God will do exactly what he promised. 26But we will first be shipwrecked on some island.
27For fourteen days and nights
we had been blown around over the Mediterranean Sea. But about midnight the
sailors realized that we were getting near land. 28They measured and found that the water was about one
hundred twenty feet deep. A little later they measured again and found it was
only about ninety feet. 29The sailors
were afraid that we might hit some rocks, and they let down four anchors from
the back of the ship. Then they prayed for daylight.
30The sailors wanted to escape
from the ship. So they lowered the lifeboat into the water, pretending that they
were letting down an anchor from the front of the ship. 31But Paul said to Captain Julius and the soldiers, "If the
sailors don't stay on the ship, you won't have any chance to save your lives."
32The soldiers then cut the ropes that
held the lifeboat and let it fall into the sea.
33Just before daylight Paul
begged the people to eat something. He told them, "For fourteen days you have
been so worried that you haven't eaten a thing. 34I beg you to eat something. Your lives depend on it. Do
this and not one of you will be hurt."
35After Paul had said this, he
took a piece of bread and gave thanks to God. Then in front of everyone, he
broke the bread and ate some. 36They
all felt encouraged, and each of them ate something. 37There were 276 people on the ship, 38and after everyone had eaten, they threw the cargo of
wheat into the sea to make the ship lighter.

The Shipwreck

39Morning came,
and the ship's crew saw a coast that they did not recognize. But they did see a
cove with a beach. So they decided to try to run the ship aground on the beach.
40They cut the anchors loose and let
them sink into the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes that were holding
the rudders. Next, they raised the sail at the front of the ship and let the
wind carry the ship toward the beach. 41But it ran aground on a sandbank. The front of the ship
stuck firmly in the sand, and the rear was being smashed by the force of the
waves.
42The soldiers decided to kill
the prisoners to keep them from swimming away and escaping. 43But Captain Julius wanted to save Paul's life, and he did
not let the soldiers do what they had planned. Instead, he ordered everyone who
could swim to dive into the water and head for shore. 44Then he told the others to hold on to planks of wood or
parts of the ship. At last, everyone safely reached shore.

Psalm 8:1-9 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 8

(A psalm by David for the music leader. (Psalm 8 leader: The Hebrew
text adds " according to the gittith," which may refer to either a musical
instrument or a tune.) )

The Wonderful Name of the LORD

1Our LORD and Ruler,
your name is wonderful
everywhere on earth!
You let your glory be seen [a] in
the heavens above.
2With praises from children
and from tiny infants,
you have built a fortress.
It makes your enemies silent,
and all who turn against you
are left speechless.
3I often think of the heavens
your hands have made,
and of the moon and stars
you put in place.
4Then I ask, "Why do you care
about us humans?
Why are you concerned
for us weaklings?"
5You made us a little lower
than you yourself, [b]
and you have crowned us
with glory and honor.
6You let us rule everything
your hands have made.
And you put all of it
under our power--
7the sheep and the cattle,
and every wild animal,
8the birds in the sky,
the fish in the sea,
and all ocean creatures.
9Our LORD and Ruler,
your name is wonderful
everywhere on earth!

French theologian, pastor and reformer during the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin wrote, "Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain."

A Joke for Today

A man was walking along a beach and stumbled across an old lamp. He picked it up, rubbed it and out popped a genie.

The genie said, "You released me from the lamp, blah blah blah. This is the fourth time this month and I'm getting a little sick of these wishes so you can forget about three. You only get one wish!"

The man sat and thought about it for a while and said, "I've always wanted to go to Hawaii but I'm scared to fly and I get very seasick.

"Could you build me a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over there to visit?"

The genie laughed and said, "That's impossible! Think of the logistics of that! How would the supports ever reach the bottom of the Pacific? Think of how much concrete! How much steel! You're going to have to think of another wish."

The man agreed, and tried to think of a really good wish. Finally, he said, "I've been married and divorced four times. My wives always said that I don't care and that I'm insensitive. So, I wish that I could understand women. I want to know how they feel inside and what they're thinking when they give me the silent treatment. I want to figure out why they're crying, know what they really want when they say 'nothing', and know how to make them truly happy."

The genie paused for a while and said, "How many lanes do you want on that bridge?"